Many business establishments that consumers patronize, such as retail stores, restaurants, etc., try to monitor their customers and their behavior. Many offer loyalty-based membership cards and/or credit cards offering consumers discounts and special offers. However, these “memberships” are often used to track and profile customers, by monitoring store visits, purchases made, etc. Consumers are usually required to register for these memberships using personal information, and the personal information in conjunction with the subsequently collected consumer behavioral data may allow the establishments to study trends within certain demographics and markets, which may assist them in improving their products and/or services. What else the businesses do with this data is often a subject of debate, however. Many advocacy groups and consumers themselves may want to know what data is captured, how the data is used, whether it is sold or otherwise provided to others, whether and when it is purged, etc. In addition to, or instead of, loyalty memberships, establishments may monitor consumer behavior using other means, such as in-store security cameras, demographic profiling, etc.
Many advocacy groups may attempt to keep track of privacy-related behavior and practices of various establishments. However, these groups may tend to be very conservative and strict in their privacy ratings. The advocacy groups may require a consumer to proactively, and frequently, visit their websites to stay updated on their studied establishments. Furthermore, there likely may not be a way for one or more consumers to provide feedback in a way that influences the advocacy groups' opinions of establishments.
For average consumers, it is currently difficult to determine what establishments are capturing what information about them and the privacy-related risks associated with each establishment. Moreover, the concept of privacy has become very fluid and elastic where it may be perceived and accepted differently by different people. For some, privacy is of utmost concern, driving some to paranoia levels, while others are not concerned about it at all. It is expected, however, that most consumers are uncomfortable with their personal data being taken and used, especially if they may be unaware if or when it is even being done.
In the drawings, the leftmost digit(s) of a reference number may identify the drawing in which the reference number first appears.